Kauai 2014: Day 3

Current goal is to get this year's vacation pics posted before I go on next year's. Let's see how that goes. As I recall, this was Super Bowl Sunday. So we started the day with a quiet morning at the house, during which I occasionally wandered outside to take a few photos. Starting things off, some Japanese white-eye shots:

I left this one pretty much as is, rather than cropping in on the bird, to help provide a better sense of the bird's size. And, in this case, how well it blends in with the foliage it's sitting in: 

Checking out a banana tree: 

A brown anole I happened to spot as I stood out on the lanai; love the curl in its tail: 

Later on, while at a good friend's house for his annual Super Bowl party, I got bored by the blowout the game turned into and went outside to try and photograph some birds instead. A Northern Cardinal obliged by landing on a banana leaf fairly close to where I stood: 

A Red-Crested Cardinal that didn't want to be left out of the fun:

 

These two didn't occupy the same leaf for very long:

After getting my host's permission, I put out some birdseed on the lanai railing, and it didn't take long to get results: 

I definitely got a couple of nice closeups out of it:

Caught a bit of a tiff as well:

One of the most entertaining aspects of feeding birds is watching the Java sparrows and zebra doves jockey for position along the railing: 

 

The zebra dove in the middle is practically standing on a Java sparrow's head:

 

And for my parting shot, a Java sparrow just peeking over the edge of a banana leaf: 

Branch Pond

To make up for how very long it's been, an extra-long foliage post. All of these images were taken during a trip with my father to Branch Pond, off Kelly Stand Road here in Vermont, on September 27.

First up, a shot taken as we started our journey up the mountain:

Images from the path we walked to get to the pond itself:

Branch Pond:

In the back center of this one, you can see someone standing on a floating platform, fly fishing:

A shot taken through the trees at one of the few moments the water was relatively calm:

Pretty much the same view, sans trees but with an unfortunate bit of lens flare:

Just thought this was an interesting little shot:

A mushroom Dad spotted as we wandered around the pond:

The largest Gartersnake I've ever seen in the wild, also spotted by Dad:

I just thought the inky markings on this trunk were interesting:

I also snuck a picture of Dad as he sat and looked over the pond:

Photos from our walk back to the Jeep:

Yes, this is the same tree as the photo above, just from a slightly different angle and with me attempting to be artsy by including the sun through the pine trees on the other side:

We stopped on our drive back down the mountain so I could take this photo looking back up the road:

Considering I got Dad to stop in the middle of a one-way bridge so I could take this shot, I figured I really should include it

Finally, my favorite shot of the day:

Killdeer

Last Tuesday, as I finished my breakfast, I became aware that the bird song I was constantly hearing outside wasn't one I recognized. Thinking maybe it was a juvenile bird of some sort, I poked my head out my front door, and discovered the reason I wasn't familiar with the song was I'd never seen this bird in person before: I had a pair of Killdeer wandering around my parking lot.

It's described by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as "a shorebird you can see without going to the beach," and I honestly can't think of a better way to put it. They certainly didn't stand still very often, so I pretty much just took a bunch of pics and hoped some of them came out in focus:

A head-on shot from when one perched on one of the boulders that lines the edge of the parking lot: 

And perched on the other one, with a blue car going by at a fortuitous moment to provide a nice contrast:

They certainly didn't show much fear towards me, so I was able to get fairly close once they were used to my presence. Then it became a matter of trying to follow along as it darted back and forth, holding down the shutter and cranking up the photo count. But the good news is, I managed to get very lucky and ended up with some nice close-ups:

Eventually, I also became aware that it wasn't just the two adult Killdeer paying our yard a visit—they had a little one with them:

Such a cute little ball of fluff. Emphasis on the little—it was barely taller than most of the vegetation it was walking through:

Probably my best closeup of the baby Killdeer:

Loved the leg raised all the way up in the air:

Taking a look around:

A couple of shots of the baby and one of its parents:

Finally, I included this one because, at first glance, it kinda looks like the bird is hovering just above the asphalt: